YORK COUNTY HISTORY CENTER

WHITE ROSE PROGRAM Life in Colonial York, Pennsylvania

Colonial Complex

The White Rose Program: Everyday Life in Colonial York, Pennsylvania The

York County History Center offers Girl Scouts the opportunity to learn about colonial life

in York and earn a White Rose Pin. Programs appropriate for Daisies through

Ambassadors are available. Troops can choose their day’s activities from a wide array of

options. Some of the activities fulfill requirements for the Foxfire House Patch. If you

are working toward your Foxfire House Patch, please let us know, and we will work with

you to find the best projects for your visit.

All programs include an age appropriate orientation to life in Colonial York and a tour of

the Colonial Complex. Scouts will see the Golden Plough Tavern built in 1741 and the

Gates House, home to Revolutionary War general, Horatio Gates, during his stay in York.

These historic structures provide insight into everyday life for middle class German

settlers and for upper class British families. Participants will also visit the reconstructed

Colonial Court House and learn about Continental Congress’s activities during the nine

months they convened in York.

Details:

Minimum of 10 participants/Maximum of 35 participants

For Senior and Ambassador Colonial Cooking Experience: Minimum of 8

participants/Maximum of 12 participants

Program Length:

Daisy and Brownie groups should allot 2 ½ hours for their program.

Junior and Cadette groups should allot 3 ½ hours for the program.

Seniors and Ambassadors should allot 4 hours for the program.

Scouts can bring bagged lunches. If you are bringing a lunch, budget an additional

½ hour.

Cost:

Daisy and Brownie programs $10/scout.

Juniors and Cadette programs $13/scout.

Senior and Ambassador program $15/scout

Senior and Ambassador Colonial Cooking experience $18/scout.

Adult chaperones are free. White Rose pins and all materials

are included in the program price.

In addition to the orientation and tour,

troops can choose how they would like to

earn their badge from the activities below.

**A description of the activities can be found

at the end of this document.**

DAISY

Choose 2 of the following:

Chores

Clay Pots

Games

Gardening

Quill Pen Writing

Wattle and Daub

BROWNIE

Choose 2 of the following:

Bartering

Candle Dipping

Chores

Clay Pots

Corn Husk Doll Making

Decoupage

Food and Cooking-Basic

Games

Gardening

Quill Pen Writing

Sewing Samplers

Tin Punch

Wattle and Daub

JUNIORS

Choose 3 of the following:

Bartering

Candle Dipping

Chores

Corn Husk Doll Making

Decoupage

Dyeing Fabric

Food and Cooking-Basic

Games

Gardening

Pennsylvania German crafts

Quill Pen Writing

Quilling (Paper)

Sewing Samplers

Tin Punch

Wattle and Daub

CADETTES

Choose 3 of the following:

Bartering

Candle Dipping

Chores

Corn Husk Doll Making

Decoupage

Dyeing Fabric

Food and Cooking-Intermediate

Games

Gardening

Pennsylvania German crafts

Quill Pen Writing

Quilling (Paper)

Sewing Samplers

Textile Production

Tin Punch

Wattle and Daub

SENIORS AND AMBASSADORS

Choose 4 activities from the Cadettes’ section

-OR-

Colonial Cooking Experience

Scouts will get to prepare, cook, and sample food in the summer kitchen, either using

the cooking hearth or using the squirrel-tail bake oven. All ingredients and supplies

provided, but troops can bring plastic containers for taking samples home.

Participants should not have any styling products in their hair, and they should wear

100% natural fibers (cotton, linen, wool). Troop leaders are advised to monitor

participants with respiratory or health issues, because of environmental smoke in the

summer kitchen.

Description of Hands-On Activities

Bartering-Learn about how people bought and sold items without money and work with your

friends to barter for something you want.

Candle Dipping-By dipping a wick into melted wax over and over again, you can make your own

candle.

Chores-Do your chores colonial style. Wash clothes, carry water, churn butter, and more.

Clay Pots-Use self-hardening clay to create your own colonial-style miniature crocks.

Corn Husk Doll Making-Learn how colonists made the best use out of everything, including using

cornhusks to make dolls. Make your own doll to take home.

Decoupage-Make trinket holders using pictures and glue.

Fabric Dyeing-Using natural dyes found in Colonial America, dye a handkerchief.

Food and Cooking-Basic-Work in the summer kitchen to discover the foods eaten and how they

were prepared. Look at a colonial recipe (receipt) and practice measuring colonial style.

Food and Cooking-Intermediate-Work in the summer kitchen to prepare a colonial recipe. Food

will not be cooked on site, but troops can take what is prepared in the summer kitchen and bake it

at home.

Games-Play like a colonial child, with

games and toys like nine pins, hoop and

stick, Jacob’s ladder, trap ball, and much

more. Create your own toy to take home.

Gardening-Take a stroll through the 4-

square garden, learn what was grown in

gardens and how things grown in the

garden were used.

Pennsylvania German

Crafts-Discover the arts of

scherenschnitte and fraktur, and

create your own unique work of

Pennsylvania German art.

Quill Pen Writing-Write a letter or draw a picture with a quill pen, then seal it with sealing wax.

Quilling-Learn to make art with rolled paper.

Sewing Samplers-Learn about the importance of the sampler to colonial girls, and begin sewing

your own sampler.

Tin Punch-From lanterns to cupboards, pierced ware was popular in the colonies. Make your own

decoration using tin punch techniques.

Wattle and Daub-Work to create a wattle and daub wall by getting dirty, mixing up mud, and piling

the mud on a woven wood framework.

Foxfire House Patch We can usually accommodate a request to complete the following as a

requirement for the Foxfire House patch:

The Art of Lewis Miller-Lewis Miller was a York carpenter and folk artist, whose sketches are

exhibited at museums in Colonial Williamsburg, New York, Germany, and, of course, the York

County History Center. A regional art gallery in Virginia is even named for him. You can learn

more about how Lewis Miller chronicled life in 19th Century York.

Egg Dying and Scratch-Carved Eggs-Dye eggs using onion skins, then learn about the

Pennsylvania German tradition of scratch carving dyed eggs.